Tamil Nadu Minister for Revenue and Disaster Management KKSSR Ramachandran said that 12 people have died in various parts of the state due to the heavy rains in the past three days. The minister added that 11 teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and seven State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) troops have been deployed in the rain-affected areas.
The minister told IANS on Wednesday, November 10, "The government is ready to face any eventuality due to rain and has already deployed 11 teams of NDRF in various parts of Chennai and adjoining districts while seven companies of the State Disaster Response Force are ready to join the operations. Fishermen have been warned not to venture into the sea following the IMD alert for the next three days and all 33,773 boats that were in the sea off Tamil Nadu coast are back home and no boat is in the sea now."
The minister added that the state government has already mobilised 1.05 lakh volunteers including swimmers, snake catchers, and tree cutters for rescue and relief operations. Senior IAS and IPS officers have been deputed to monitor the situation in districts. The minister said that 12 IPS officers have been posted in Chennai for coordination and 15 IAS officers for each of the zones of the Greater Chennai Corporation.
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a red alert in Chennai and adjoining districts for Thursday, November 11. The red alert is an indication that heavy to very heavy rains are expected to lash the city and adjoining areas on Thursday.
The IMD in a statement on Wednesday said that a low-pressure system over the Bay of Bengal would intensify into a deep depression and reach the northern Tamil Nadu coast by Thursday. The red alert, according to the IMD, is applicable to several coastal districts of the state as extremely heavy rain (200mm) is likely in the coastal areas of the state.
The IMD regional centre said that the well-marked low-pressure area over the southeast Bay of Bengal is likely to concentrate into a depression in the next 12 hours. This depression would move northwestwards and reach Northern Tamil Nadu by the early morning of November 11, leading to heavy showers in the area.